


Loose agreement

by meridalocksley



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-31 11:08:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10898103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridalocksley/pseuds/meridalocksley
Summary: Cursed Back To The Real World - A Swan Queen AU





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Emma was sent to a mental hospital when people realised that she had recurring hallucinations because of a drug addiction. Her 11 year old son was taken from her, and later he was adopted

There was something strange about walking the streets of the city again, as a free woman. Emma has of course tried to escape the institute once. And failed. Miserably.

But that has been years ago... A couple of months have passed already since she was allowed to leave. She was now living in Henry's apartament. And she was determined to get her own place as soon as possible. She loved her kid and enjoyed his company, especially that they've been apart for so long, but it was extremely uncomfortable for her to have to rely on her 23 year old son when it came about... anything. She was sitting by his kitchen table right now. Watching his TV. Eating his breakfast. Drinking his coffee.

That had to change.

"So... did you consider that job opportuity I told you about, mom?" Henry asked her looking up from his laptop. He was writing.

He was always writing. Not long ago his first book was published, and it became a bestseller. Emma was extremely happy for him. Maybe it was for his best that she didn't raise him during his teens after all. The kid he left behind was a videogame addict, always neglecting his homework, skipping school, failing classes, and barely eating anything other than mac and cheese and occasionally, at best a fruit salad. The boy who sometimes visited her during the past decade was a nice, level-headed, smart kid, and the young man who was looking straight at her now, made her feel extremely proud.

But then it all collapsed, the illusion faded, and all that remained for her to feel was shame and regret.

Because she was't there for him. She wasn't the one guiding him, she wasn't the one advising him, soothing him, when it came about all the teenage drama. She wasn't the one paying for his studies - that she wouldn't have been able to afford anyway. Had he grown up with her... his son would now be working somewhere in a fast food probably. And that is the better scenario. The woman who did all that instead did a great job, she had to give her credit for that.

Emma had never met Henry's adoptive mother in person, but she knew who she was. Everyone knew who she was... She in a way disliked her, because almost everyone she has ever heard about her from... well, disliked her. Apparently it was almost like a must, a duty, if you were a citizen of this city. And she also came across some not so very nice articles about her in newspapers. But that was in a big part just prejudice, she wasn't truly present in the life of the city when Henry's adoptive mother started her political career after all. Now she was the mayor. Ambitious woman, apparently. And Henry seemed to be fond of her. Strangely, in a way Emma was now almost grateful for her. And at the same time she also envied this woman in the deepest way possible.

And now Henry wanted Emma to do paperwork for her.

Emma bit her lip. She needed a job. "Yeah, I did consider it, kid." she started avoiding the boy's glance. "I'll give it a shot." she said with a smile, then stood up to clean the table. "Oh, and we ran out of cinnamon." she added.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma insisted that they meet in an official environment. She already felt pretty much as an intruder in her own son's life, after she failed him, she didn't want to just show up on the porch of the woman, who actually was there for him when she couldn't be, begging for a job. So she was now sitting on the couch in the mayor's office, feeling small under the piercing gaze of the mayor herself.

Regina Mills stared at her silently from an armchair, probably judging her, legs crossed, her chin up. The woman was the living manifestation of self-confidence. And charisma. And power.

She was everything Emma wasn't. Not in the present moment at least.

She opened the door for Emma when she arrived with a welcoming smile, but Emma felt that it wasn't genuine. Especially that she knew that, she didn't even want Henry to be visiting her while she was in the institute. The kid said that she was waiting for him outside in the car, but he was lying. Initially he was visiting her against his new mother's will. And later she couldn't do much to stop him anymore.

 _It was a bad idea to come here,_ Emma thought _, I could easily find a job in a fast food or somewhere..._

"So... we should discuss why you are here, Miss Swan." the mayor broke the silence.

"Yes, of course. Er... I would be interested to occupy the vacancy in the city hall-" Emma started after a deep breath, but Regina's smug smirk made her stop. _What the hell could I have already said that was wrong? I barely opened my mouth!_

"I hope that you are aware that there is no vacancy, Miss Swan." Regina smiled. "The sole reason why you got this job offer was because my son asked me very kindly to give you a decent job until you work your issues out, and manage to find a decent one yourself. He didn't want you to swipe floors or... do who knows what else."

 _Charismatic. Powerful. And arrogant. Her bad reputation might be accurate._  Emma thought. _I should leave now. But how would I explain that to Henry?_

"I can of course hire you." Regina continued. "But not for long term, and not for a luxurious amount of money."

"Of course, I know." Emma nodded. "Thank you."

Emma's ego shouted to say no, but instead she heard herself saying the words, calmly. She needed this job. She knew that she wouldn't find a better one. And working with Regina Mills still looked like a better option than serving hamburgers to angry men at a gas station or swiping a deranged old lady's floor.

Little did she know by then, how wrong that assumption actually was.

Regina smiled. "Okay then, you can start tomorrow morning. Your office will be the second door from this one to the left. There are some ancient files which need some categorizing and digitalizing. I hope you won't stick around long enough to finish it all, though. For your own good I mean." Regina added when she saw Emma's hurt expression. "Don't worry, I am not such a heartless bitch as the papers make me seem to be." she added with an almost friendly smile, and for a moment Emma thought that the two of them might just get along well after all."But I can be a heartless bitch if I want to, so just please do what I tell you and don't get in my way." she added on a joking tone. "8 am." She finished her monolgue with a nod and stood up, making it clear that the conversation was over.

 

.

 

When the door closed behind Emma, Regina wearily sat down to her desk.

Her gaze fell on the framed photograph of her and Henry. It was Henry's 12th birthay, the first one they celebrated together. Had his birthmother come back into the picture while Henry was still a kid she wouldn't have been so kind to her. Henry was the best thing that happened to her in a long, long time, since her fiance and her father died in a plane crash back when she was 21. Then not long after that she had a big argument with her mother when she refused the proposal of a wealthy businessman. They  barely spoke since then. And years have passed. She wouldn't have been able to loose Henry too. But now? Now she has already lost him. Well not really lost him, but she had to let him go. The boy grew up.

There was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" she was dragged back to the present moment.

"Have you founded a charity organisation for mental patients and you haven't informed your legal advisor, about it, dearie?" She head the man's voice before she could have seen him.

Regina rolled her eyes. "What should I have done? Henry was so worried about how she'll cope with reintegrating..."

The thin man closed the door behind himself and faced Regina with a cold smile.

"And you always did whatever that boy asked you since she ran into your arms, crying... I still rember that day. The little boy has just been informed that he'll no longer live with her mother in their trailer and instead he'll have to share a room with other kids in an orphanage. Do you still recall whether you decided to adopt him before or after that moment?"

Regina's face was still and unreadable, but there was a flash in her eyes. "Don't you dare to bring that up. You saw it just as clearly as I did, that the kid was better off without the craziness of his mother."

"I did. But I was her lawyer. You were the young woman who bought him chocolate doughnuts and took him to the park while I discussed with his mother. And I never lose, dearie. You just managed to make this one lost case be worth it for me. Had Gregory Gold done his best, maybe she could have escaped with a simple rehab."

"She was dangerous." Regina said. Talking more to herself than to Gold.

"Keep saying that to yourself, dearie. Maybe it will ease your conscience, in case looking at her sorting out some old papers of yours while whistling the theme of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs won't do it."

"What do you want?" Regina looked in the face of the man, losing her patience.

"I want you to see that you made a huge mistake. You should have stayed as far away from Emma Swan as you can."

"Why? Helping her with this is the least I can do."

Gold laughed, coldly. "I didn't expect this from you, Regina... to be so naive. When did your will of selflessly helping others ever not punch you back in the face?"

Regina swallowed and didn't answer. Gold was a remarkable lawyer and she admired his ability to always see the big picture, and was, sometimes, annoyed by his ability to manipulate things to his benefit. Sometimes she admired that too. He was her mentor. And he was the closest thing she had to a father, or even parent figure since her twenties. But she didn't look at him as such. They had a complicated relationship. He cared about her. In his own way.

Regina wasn't afraid Emma might find out something she shouldn't, she was pretty confident about her defence-mechanisms. And she wasn't exactly the kind of person who feels guilty about the one selfish thing she did long years ago either. She thought she deserved at least that much after everything she's been through. - And back then the woman seemed indeed crazy... that day. And Henry had a better life here with her. Yet she dread the hypotetical scenario in which his son learnes about it. But why would they find out?

"Why does it bother you so much, if it doesn't bother me?" she stood up and looked in the face of the man.

"Because there is more at stake than your baby boy's good opinion about his adoptive-mommy. She was my client, I remind you. I know things about the woman you wouldn't want to deal with."

"What things?" Regina asked.

"As I said, things you don't want to deal with. The least time she spends in this city, the better."

It wasn't the first time Gold didn't tell everything to her, and there was the lawyer-client confidentiality too, but Regina found it extremely irritatiing when the man acted like the one who is in charge. And the bitter truth is, when he acted  like this, he usually was. She got to learn that through the years. The hard way. And any effort to try getting more out of him is a waste of time. He wouldn't tell. Not the truth anyway. But he has never done her wrong, so Regina trusted him.

"I can't just fire her now..." Regina said finally. "That would be absurd."

Gold took an apple from the plate which was on her desk, and headed towards the door.

"Then figure it out what would make her leave." he shrugged.

 


End file.
